#273 - Into the Nexus: “Draught in your Draft”

• Garrett • Kyle • Jeff or Guest

#Heroes #of #the #Storm #HotS #Blizzard #Entertainment #Warcraft #Diablo #StarCraft #Overwatch #Hearthstone #WoW #Garrett #Kyle #Weinzierl #Fergusson #Video #Games

It’s here! Rejoice Chen players! The promised time is here and your rework awaits and it is fabulous. Now we wait to see how to lands. Build yourself a new house, because this guy needs a new floor and ceiling. Garrett and Kyle also run down the weeks news including the upcoming Mecha-Storm event and the announced Developer AMAs. The dudes enjoy your emails, waxing and more! Enjoy another hefty episode of Into the Nexus.

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Intro:  Welcome to Into the Nexus! The Heroes of the Storm podcast!

Been seeing Not_Paradox’s Alaraks everywhere X2

Tried out the Merc Genji we discussed last episode

Preseason was stealth extended by 1 month and 3 weeks.

• Why was this extended?

• Can we expect:

• Placement Decay
• Ranked rewards based on continual play
• Rework of Hero Level Progress Reworks (summer)
• Reduced Placement Games (summer)

• Was it extended to give us ranked rewards for participating in the preseason?

• Queue quality returns to normal
• So it’s safe? Still playing QM. Kerrigan getting dialed it.

News

Chen Rework

Developer Comment: The new Chen has finally arrived! We had a blast tinkering with him, and look forward to seeing him unleashed to his full potential in your hands. When taking a look at how to best change him, we primarily focused on adding more opportunities for Chen to make plays and for his opponents to interact with him. Some of his power has been taken out of Fortifying Brew and put into his new ability, Stagger, as well as into his talents. While he may take a bit of time to master, proper management of Chen’s cooldowns should result in a formidable hero that will make a great addition to any team.

Keg Smash [W]

• Brew cost increased from 20 to 30
• New functionality: Smash Chen's keg, dealing damage, drenching affected enemies in Brew for 3 seconds, and Slowing them by 10% for 1.5 seconds. After 1.5 seconds, the Slow is increased to 40% for 1.5 seconds. After being used, this ability becomes Breath of Fire.

Breath of Fire [W]

• This ability has been moved to the W button, and is available after Keg Smash has been used
• Cooldown reduced from 5 seconds to 1.5 seconds
• Impact damage reduced from 96 to 85
• Periodic damage increased from 32 to 55
• Brew cost reduced from 30 to 10
• Adjusted functionality: Using Breath of Fire on Brew-soaked enemy causes them to be Ignited, dealing damage over 3 seconds and adding 1.5 seconds to the duration of the Slow from Keg Smash. After being used or after 6 seconds, this ability becomes Keg Smash

BlizzAZJackson: I just wanted to pop in here and say that while I totally understand where you're coming from, the cooldown between being able to use Keg Smash and Breath of Fire is completely intentional, and I hope you get used to it over time as you play with Chen.

We went through quite a few iterations with this interaction, and one of the main goals we had was to drive more play and counter-play between Chen and his targets as much as possible. Since his Q is a point-and click ability with relatively little interaction and we were less comfortable with significantly changing it, we were really looking for a window of time between Chen diving a target and him being able to do the bulk of his damage to them. With this 1.5 second window, his opponent has an opportunity to juke the incoming Breath of Fire or use an ability to escape him, whereas Chen wants to weave in an auto or two and body block his opponent from getting away so that he can line up the Breath of Fire.

Since the combo is less guaranteed, it gives us a lot of leeway to make it more powerful compared to his previous iteration as well as add more potent talents that take advantage of the interaction, which we see as a big win.

Again, while I get that it takes some getting used to, I hope you give it a chance, as we found when we played with it over time it became more interactive and fun for both Chen and his opponents.

Kerrigan analogy

New Ability: Stagger [E]

• Damage taken over the next 3 seconds is prevented. Once this effect ends, Chen receives 75% of the damage taken over 5 seconds. 18-second CD

• Level 7 - New Talent: Gift of the Ox [E]

• Increase Stagger’s duration by .5 seconds, and reduce the amount of damage taken over time to 60% of damage taken

• Stagger is applied as a poison like effect after Stagger ends much like Mal’ganis Dark Conversion Damage
• Reducible by Armor
• Removable be Storm Earth and Fire Transformation
• Removable by Lunara’s Abolish Magic
• Absorbable by Shields

Fortifying Brew [Trait]

• No longer grants 25 Brew instantly
• Brew regeneration increased from 30 to 50 per second
• Cooldown increased from 5 to 7 seconds
• Channel time reduced from 5 to 4 seconds
• Shield amount decreased from 196 to 180 per second
• This reduces the total shields for fully drinking from 588 to 540
• Shield duration increased from 2 to 4 seconds

Level 10 - Wandering Keg [R1]

• Movement speed bonus increased from 60% to 70%
• Knockback duration increased by ~28%
• Knockback speed increased by ~53%

Level 20 - Untapped Potential [R1]

• Armor bonus increased from 60 to 75
• Armor bonus now lasts for 3 seconds after Wandering Keg expires
• Movement Speed increased from 100% to 125%

Level 10 - Storm Earth Fire [R2]

• Spirit Health reduced from 75% of Chen's Health to 70%
• Each ability can only be cast once. The final ability that is cast is empowered.

Storm [Q]

• New functionality: The spirits gain a shield for 400 over 3 seconds. If this is the final ability cast, the shield amount is increased to 750 with no limited duration, and the duration of Storm Earth Fire is increased by 5 seconds.

Earth [W]

• New functionality: Fire and Earth leap to the target location, dealing 32 damage and slowing enemies in a large area by 70% for 1.5 seconds. If this is the final ability cast, increase the damage dealt by 300% and the leap instead roots enemy Heroes hit for 1.75 seconds.
• Earth Ability range increased from 7 to 9
• Earth Unit basic attack Slow reduced from 2 seconds to 1.75 seconds
• Earth Unit attack period increased from 2 to 1.5

Fire [E]

• New functionality: Increase the attack speed and attack damage of the spirits by 50% for 5 seconds. If this is the final ability cast, increase the attack speed and attack damage bonus to 75% and the spirits gain 50% movement speed for its duration

Level 20 - Elemental Conduit [R2]

• New functionality: Increase the spirits’ Health to 100% of Chen’s maximum Health and all of their abilities are empowered

Interesting Talents:

Level 20 - Purifying Brew [Trait]

• Casting Fortifying Brew grants Chen Unstoppable for 1.5 seconds

Level 20 - New Talent: Energizing Brew [Trait]

• If Chen fully completes his cast of Fortifying Brew, then he gains 20% maximum Health and 20% increased damage for 25 seconds

Builds:

• Solo Boss at 13 Build
• Fat Illidan
• Main Tank Chen

Links

• https://psionic-storm.com/en/talent-calculator/chen/?region=ptr
• https://www.invenglobal.com/articles/8400/developer-insight-into-the-delicate-balance-behind-chens-rework

Other Changes

D.Va: D.Va's Mech is no longer immune to friendly abilities.

Sylvanas: Minions who are Possessed now properly remove all friendly damaging abilities that were applied before they were Possessed.

Anub’arak: Cocoon is no longer disjointed by teleports. Cocoon will now redirect, similarly to pyroblast, and fall off if the teleport is far enough away.

Incoming Summer Event

Need the Valla skin

MechaStorm II

Many seasonal items have made their way back into the collection and will be available for crafting and in Loot Chests for a limited time!

Xenotech threatens the planet once again. This new invasion is being led by Mecha Malthael, sowing havoc and destruction across Neo-Stormwind. Many outposts and cities have already felt the wrath of the Mecha Archangel of Death.

A new generation of Heroes arise to defend the innocent. Equipped with cutting edge Mecha technology provided by Neo-President Anduin, the young pilots prepare for the battles ahead.

You must stand together alongside Valla and Yrel as members of the MechaStorm to help bring Xenotech’s Mecha Malthael’s advance to a halt. However, you must first make sure your equipment is up to the task.

MechaStorm II Quest Chain

Repair, upgrade and run repeatable combat simulation missions for each part of Mecha Tyrael. Join the Neo-Stormwind’s mobile Mecha squadron alongside Valla and Yrel to help push back the Xenotech invasion being led by Mecha Malthael.

Earn Mecha-themed sprays, portraits and loot boxes while working to unlock Tyrael the Hero as well as the unique Perfect Mecha Tyrael skin.

MechaStorm II Loot Chests

From June 17th to August 5th, your main goal will be working to thwart the Xenotech invasion. During this time all Loot Chests earned or bought with Gold will be MechaStorm II Loot Chests (excluding Hero-specific ones). These Loot Chests guarantee at least one item from either MechaStorm II or previous years’ Summer Events.

Note: Loot Chests earned prior to the start of this event will not become MechaStorm II Loot Chests.

Links

• https://heroesofthestorm.com/en-us/blog/23018655/heroes-of-the-storm-ptr-patch-notes-june-10-2019-2019-6-10/

Summer AMA Schedule

Want to be able to ask the devs working on Heroes of the Storm your burning questions about recent content updates? Your chance is coming soon! Below is a schedule of some upcoming AMA’s the Heroes of the Storm team will be holding in the coming months:

• Thursday, June 20th 10:00 am – 12 noon PDT*
• Thursday, July 18th 10:00 am – 12 noon PDT*
• Thursday, August 8th 10:00 am – 12 noon PDT*

We will post the threads a couple days in advance to gather questions ahead of the AMA, so keep an eye out and be sure to get your questions in!

Please note, since we’re planning these early, we aren’t sharing the focus of each AMA just yet as we can’t share all our plans yet!

Links

• https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/heroes/t/heroes-of-the-storm-reddit-ama-schedule-summer-2019/21326

Patreon Mention: Patreon.com/ITN

Thanks to our Patreon producers Declan H, CheezyBob, and.

Patron Thanks Doc for keeping track

• Algirdas Kazlauskas
• widgete33        
• alber        

Emails

Tayne

I have a little tip that most of the Dehaka players I run into seem to be unaware of. Most dehaka players are misled by the name of the drag ability into thinking that you always have to move and drag your victim with it, when sometimes it can be helpful to just use the stun to get in some free auto attacks by not moving after you land your skill shot. This synergizes well with Dehaka's auto attack abilities, including the one that reduces the drag cooldown when landing auto attacks. You can also use it to reposition on their other side to initiate a body block. Most players seem to think moving directly backward is their only option.

I'm sure you were all probably aware of this but based on what I'm seeing it seems like the community may benefit from a PSA on the subject.

Leadruffian

Who do you guys think would be a good hero from the blizzard universe to have a similar kit as Darius in LoL or Axe in DotA 2? The resetting execute always seemed cool to me.

Darius League of Legends - Noxian Guillotine: Darius leaps to an enemy champion and strikes a lethal blow, dealing true damage. This damage is increased for each stack of Hemorrhage on the target. If Noxian Guillotine is a killing blow, its cooldown is refreshed for a brief duration.

Axe Dota 2 - Cully Blade - Axe spots a weakness and strikes, instantly killing an enemy unit with low health, or dealing moderate damage otherwise. When an enemy hero is killed with Culling Blade, its cooldown is reset, and Axe and nearby allied units gain bonus movement speed.

• Gul’dan: Health Funnel

• Drain Life's cooldown recharges 100% faster while it is channeling. If an enemy dies while under the effect of Drain Life, the cooldown is instantly refreshed.

• Li Ming Resets
• Genji Resets
• Greymane Go for the Throat

Omegatron

While playing quick match with a friend who had taken a year hiatus recently, I ran into a couple level 17 people with similar names who seemed very coordinated with near perfect skills shots in quick match, i.e. potential high level smurfs. Luckily, it only happened in one game, but I can imagine if it happened again that my buddy might have decided it wasn't worth it to come back. I think smurfing isn't super common in quick match, but my fried was still kind of bummed out over it. What would you say to someone new to encourage them to keep playing if they run into smurfs?

Outro

Patreon Shout Out

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Thanks to our Patreon producers Declan H, CheezyBob, Chris K, and Robert M. ITN shirt at shirts.amove.tv. Coffee mugs and glasses are over at etched.amove.tv.

Catch the live show Thursday at 5pm Eastern / 2pm Pacific on Twitch.tv/Amovetv. Mobile live stream provided by Alpha Geek Radio.

Follow the show on Twitter @ITNcast and ITNpodcast.reddit.com.

Thanks to Gorath for our intro music and briangriffithmusic.com (@briangriffith) for our outro..

Personal Stuff

Garrett

• Follow Garrett @GarrettArt
• NOMOONart.com for Garrett’s stream designs.
• The Angry Chicken: A Hearthstone Podcast
• R2-T2

Kyle

• Twitch.tv/kylefergusson
• Kylefergusson.com

Questions for Future Shows [DO NOT DELETE]

Frank via ITNcast@gmail.com - Playing “competitively” makes the game less fun?

Hey Garrett and Kyle,

Historically, I’ve been a “queue up with friends in quick match” player. A few months ago, a few friends and I decided to start a team to play in the various competitive leagues, mainly Heroes Lounge. We have a coach who competed in official Blizzard esports events, we have regularly scheduled practices, scrims, and matches. I’m very proud of the improvement we’ve made. We’ve all become better players, and we synergize pretty well most of the time.

However, this has had an unfortunate side effect for me. Whenever I play without my teammates, either in solo queue, or partied with randos, I tend to get pretty tilted because they don’t play the way my team does. For example, I play dps. When I’m playing with my team, I know my Muradin will jump on that exposed Tyrande, I will follow up as Greymane, and we will get the kill. With a rando Muradin, he jumps too late, or doesn’t jump at all and I go in but he doesn’t follow. Or I’m playing Tracer with the team, and I know my support has my back so I can play aggressive and focus the backline, but if I play with a rando support, he doesn’t have my back, and I can’t put on that pressure, or I go in and die and get flamed for being too aggressive.

This seems to happen more often than not when I play without the team. It makes me want to never play without them, and unfortunately, we can only play together two or three times a week, since all of our schedules are busy. I’d like to practice, on my own time, the heroes, combos, and builds that intend to use in the competitive scene with the team, but if I don’t have my team, it doesn’t feel like a good time investment. Sometimes it even feels like I’m becoming a worse player. It’s definitely more frustrating than fun.

Is there any advice you two can share with me regarding this dilemma?

Sincerely,

Frank

aCreepyBadGuy

Greetings ITN,

I genuinely love the Amove.tv lineup; and listen to EVERY podcast weekly. It’s a delight and you guys are amazing at everything you do.

So I’m playing my favorite MOBA Heroes of the Storm, and as a low tier player I have come accustomed to some things happening in my games. Some are easier to handle than others; but recently over the past few months after HGC Apocalypse, I have seen a rise in the number of trolls and smurf accounts down here in the lower echelons of high level play. Individuals with the sole purpose of ruining games, harassing teammates and losing on purpose. (said individuals are reported by multiple people from both teams)

Now I’m aware this is a ‘thing’ in just about every multiplayer game you choose to play nowadays, but it’s getting to the point were individuals are getting reporting, having their accounts banned and creating new ones to continue the cycle. As a result myself and some of my peers who still LOVE the game in every sense of the word, are just put off by the amount of distasteful content in a community that used to be a sanctuary for off kilter characters from the Blizzard universe.

I find myself playing less, but I still love the content, enjoy the positivity from the ITN Cast, but my question is when will the community decide to change it’s outlook on this ‘so not dead’ game, and begin to love again. Or at the very least stop harassing players who genuinely want to enjoy friendly online competition.

We sincerely just want to have a good time.

Respectfully,

aCreepyBadGuy